Disagree about thermal paste being the main fix for hot CPUs

Had a bad week about 6 months ago where my Ryzen 3600 kept hitting 85 degrees under load. Everyone on here kept saying to redo the thermal paste, so I did that twice with some Arctic MX-4. Still ran hot. Turned out the problem was my case airflow was garbage - I had a glass front panel with tiny side vents. Swapped to a mesh front case for $60 and temps dropped 15 degrees. I think people jump to the paste thing because it's easy and sounds technical. Has anyone else found a bigger temp drop from case changes than from repasting?

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2 Comments

grant_palmer2mo ago

15 degrees from just a case swap? That's wild. I had the same issue with my 3600, replaced the paste twice and it barely moved the needle.

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jessicamiller2mo ago

Try running it with the side panel off first to check your airflow path.

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